The "Standard of Ur" from ancient Mesopotamia

02 February 2011

Writing goals 2011

It was on my do-list for this week to make my list of writing goals for 2011; obviously, I was way behind on this task. I also haven't blogged in a while. I looked at the clock and realized there was little time left in the workday. What to do, what to do?

I decided to kill two birds with one stone by making my list of goals and then posting them to my blog for comments and questions.

Writing Goals 2011

✑ I will submit something for critiquing for every critique group meeting.

✑ I will fix up the stories I wrote at Clarion and submit them to appropriate markets.

✑ I will write at least six new short stories. Some will target anthologies and others will target SFWA-qualifying markets.

✑ I will attend the Historical Novel Society meeting in San Diego (June), World Fantasy Con in San Diego (October), and LOScon in Los Angeles (Thanksgiving weekend). My goals will be (1) networking; (2) reconnecting with writers I already know; (3) signing Like Mayflies in a Stream (all conferences); and volunteering to moderate a session (WFC, LOScon) and sit on a panel (all conferences).

✑ I will continue marketing Like Mayflies in a Stream by signing books in New Orleans (April), at the Cairo Caravan Belly Dance Festival in Long Beach (June), and at the three writers conferences I’m going to.

✑ I will study how to write poetry. I will write and market some of my own.

✑ I will complete the first draft of my new novel.

✑ I will stop most of the volunteer work I do for organizations I belong to and not volunteer for anything new. Writing must be Priority #1.

I started my 2011 list by opening my list for 2010 and renaming the file. As I looked over last year's goals, I was pleased to see that I had met more than I had realized. (My goal list fell off the wall midway through the year and I've been in the dark about my progress since.) Some of 2010's goals reappear on the new list; "submit something for critiquing every month" is always one of my yearly writing goals. Two ambitious goals on the 2011 list did not appear on last year's list: finish the first draft of a novel, and write and submit poetry.

This is a more ambitious goal list than usual. It will be a challenge to accomplish most of the items, and I wish I had gotten around to making the list in December as I usually do. Now I'm already in catch-up mode. Perhaps that's not so bad; it's energizing and exciting to see the things I want to do down on paper, and the lateness of the list adds some pressure to get busy!

Do you put together a list of writing goals every year? How often do you meet your goals? What other kinds of plans do you make for your writing at the start of the year?

9 comments:

FARRAH, I am trying to acquire an interest in and a knowledge of poetry in hopes that it will make me a better writer. Other people have told me writing poetry has helped them learn to be concise and to create good metaphors, among other things.

I have often in the past done the writing goal thing, but not this year. I think though it was becasue I started the year with a contiuation of projects from last year so I already knew where I was going.

I've never been good with goals, unfortunately. They were too easily thwarted when I was younger, so my life has been a drifty, goal-less thing since then. I even tend to self-sabotage, so goals are not good for me. I wish I could function in a goal-oriented way, believe me. There could be a sense of progress then. Instead I just have to take my life day by day.